What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past week: 0.00"

Counting our blessings. While our drought worries continue, they are nothing compared to what our friends and former neighbors are facing in Houston this week. We were living in Houston in 2001 during Tropical Storm Allison when we had 24" of rain over a 3 day period. By the time Harvey departs the Houston area later this week they are talking about the possibility of twice that much rain. The Alley Theater, our long-time home-away-from-home is again underwater, as are so many other buildings and homes. It is truly impossible to fathom without being there. Our hearts go out to all living in that disaster zone. We are so lucky to be here, to be healthy (surgery recovery is going well) and to have the privilege of growing good food here on the farm. We don't say it enough, thanks for being a part of our farm family!

With the fall field crops mostly all in the ground, we spent a fair amount of time cultivating this week. We also went after that last pesky row of potatoes, some of which are headed out in boxes today. Though we did other things, I feel like we spent half of our week harvesting beans. The rains from a week ago really kicked both the old and new plantings into gear so we are doing our best to keep them picked. We considered doing an "All Legume Box" this week, but decided you might like a few other things to go along with them. Not all is rosy on the legume front though. The weather did a real number on the edamame crop this year, after losing the first sowing to the furry eaters, the second sowing did ok and the 3rd sowing didn't even germinate. The pods on succession 2 were filled out and needed to be harvested, but the total yield was lower than we hoped. So we are sending all of them out today, with just enough for everyone to get a sample. They are pretty tasty added to a variety of pasta dishes, where you can enjoy them without needed a huge quantity. They are fairly dusty from the dry soil and morning dews, so you will want to give them a quick rinse before tossing them into your cooking pot. While harvesting the edamame, we took a look at the nearby collards and decided it was time to box some up for you. They are green & lush, though a bit "over-popular" with the local insect gangs. We hope you can overlook the leaf damage, it is certainly a badge of "no-chemicals-used-here".

Some of the mid-season crops are starting to look a bit tired. The summer squashes are really showing their age and are slowing down in their production. The Romano beans, while producing like crazy, look like they are on their final hurrah. Tomatoes are just having a rough year all around. They aren't really slowing down, they just never really took off this year with all of the crazy weather. We will continue to send them out as long as we have them. The fall crops are coming along surprisingly well, given our rain shortage, but that nice +1" ten days ago or so really gave them a boost. The Napa is putting on the most impressive show, but the lettuces, spinach and choi are looking nearly as good. We finally have a crop of chard coming along as well. We built it a little deer & rabbit-proof tunnel and as long as we can keep the blister beetles at bay, we should have some in boxes by the end of the season. The winter squash continue to do well and are at risk of taking over our El Norte field. Some of the Musque de Provence squashes we've seen hiding under the mounds of foliage are so big they look like overstuffed footstools! Now how are we going to get those into boxes???

A little detail on your produce this week:

Edamame(vegetable or green soy beans): Store beans on or off the branches
in a bag in the crisper drawer and use within 1 week.To use, separate beans from branches and cook
in salted, boiling water in the pods or shelled, depending on how you plan to
use them. In case this is a new vegetable for you, the pods of edamame are not
edible, so be sure to shell them before eating.

Eggplant: Eggplant
prefers to be kept at about 50° F, which is warmer than most refrigerators and
cooler than most kitchen counters. Wrap unwashed eggplant in a towel (not in
plastic) to absorb any moisture and keep it in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator.
Used within a week, it should still be fresh and mild.The shape of an eggplant determines how it is
best prepared. Slice a straight, narrow eggplant into rounds for grilling or
broiling, and cut a rounded, bulbous eggplant into cubes for stews and
stir-fries.

Melons: If
your cantaloupe seems a bit short of ripe, keep it at room temperature
for a few days or until there is a sweet smell coming from the stem end.
Once the melon ripens, store it in the refrigerator. Handle watermelons
carefully. When harvested at their peak ripeness, they can crack or
split easily if bumped or roughly handled. Refrigerate watermelons right
away. (Watermelons do not ripen off the vine and do not emanate a ripe
smell.)Cut melon should be covered in plastic wrap, chunks or slices
should be kept in an airtight container, and both should be
refrigerated. Eat all melons within a week.

Okra:
These lovely, dark red, horn-shaped vegetables are a warm weather treat.
Extremely cold sensitive, store in their plastic bag in the warmest part of
your fridge, or place the plastic bag in a small paper sack and store in the
crisper drawer and use within the week. Traditional southerners will cut into
rounds, bread in cornmeal and fry, but our favorite version is our dear friend
Annie's method, "All I do is rinse
off the pods and lay them in a saucepan with a little water in the bottom. Ten
to fifteen minutes is all it takes...twenty if the pods are really big and
"woody" feeling. I put salt on them and eat as finger food. It
reminds me of young sweet corn."

Peppers:Place
whole, unwashed peppers in a plastic bag, seal, and refrigerate for a week or
more. Rinse peppers just before use. For sweet peppers, cut around the stem
with a small knife and lift out the core. Slice down the side to open it up and
then cut out the inner membranes. Store unused portions in a sealed bag or
container in the refrigerator.

Potatoes: Keep unwashed potatoes in a cool, dark, dry place, such as a
loosely closed paper bag in a cupboard. They will keep for weeks at room temperature,
longer if you can provide their ideal temperature of 40 to 50 degrees. Beware:
the low temperature of your refrigerator will convert the starch to sugars.
Moisture causes potatoes to spoil, light turns them green, and proximity to
onions causes them to sprout. (You can still use a potato that has sprouted,
however; simply cut off the “eyes” before use.) Potatoes store best if they haven't been
washed, so we send them out in their "dust jackets". Just before
using, scrub potatoes well and cut off any sprouts or green skin. (Clean
delicate new potatoes gently.) Peeling is a matter of preference.

Squash Blossoms:Squash blossoms are very perishable.Arrange them on paper towel lined tray, cover
with another cloth and then lightly wrap with plastic, refrigerate and use very
soon.Blossoms will keep for 1 week at
50ºF.Open and inspect
squash blossoms for insects before using them.Pull off and discard the green calyxes surrounding the bottom of the
blossom.Clean blossoms by gently
swishing them in a bowl of cold water.Shake them dry. Trim or snip out
the anthers or style.A few suggested
uses for the squash blossoms:as a
garnish raw on crêpes, green salads, fruit salads, soups, and quesadillas;
stuff blossoms with rice or minced meat and fry in batter; stuff blossoms with
soft cheese, cooked and crumbled sausage, then bread and fry or bake; dip
blossoms in a flour and cornstarch batter and fry until brown and crunchy; chop
them up and add to quiche.

A few other details: All of your
GREENS
will keep best if stored in a plastic bag, with the top folded over and placed
in the produce drawer of your refrigerator.

* NOTE: You
will notice over the course of the season that some box contents listed above say "Perhaps one of the following..."These
are items that we can’t harvest in sufficient quantities for the whole CSA to receive at one time.We do
track who gets what and we will do our best to ensure that everyone eventually
receives each item. On some items this
may take several weeks, so please be patient.

Is a weekly
newsletter not enough for you and you want to read more about our daily
adventures or see pictures of the farm?Follow
us on Facebook at Blue Gate Farm
and/or share your recipes, experiences and questions with other BGF members at Blue Gate Farm
Community.

That’s about it
this week, if you have any questions or comments be sure to let us know.

What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past week: 1.70"

The words I'm sure everyone has been waiting to hear, "we finally got some rain!" It took a week, but over the past 7 days, we got more than an inch of and a half of glorious rain. This is a game changer for some of our crops and it is definitely lowering the stress level of this farmHer. That said, it doesn't come close to addressing our deficit, but it sure made some farmers and plants very happy!

We got some big projects done this past week, including harvesting nearly all of the remaining potatoes. Luckily the yield was much better than the early potatoes we dug a few weeks ago. Certainly not a record yield, but a respectable showing. The crew was fairly sure we were trying to kill them that day , even though we used the tractor and potato plow to do the digging. They didn't seem to be believe me when I told them that it was MUCH harder when we dug them all by hand. We still have one row left that we couldn't get the potato plow into without running over the cabbages (bad farmHer planning). We did hook up the old horse-drawn plow to the tractor and ran that through the row to at least give us a start at digging, but I'm considering letting the crew hand dig the rest of that row just for the experience of it. :)

Digging for buried (potato) treasure

Resorting to the old "horse-drawn" plow

We also pulled all of the onions this week and racked them up in the barn loft to dry. The number of onions was pretty good but they are definitely smaller than we'd like to see. Given how little moisture they received, we are probably lucky we have any at all. Amidst these bigger harvesting projects this week, we prepped some high tunnel beds for new crops, shelled the last of the 2016 popcorn, cleaned another round of garlic, sowed kale, chard and Napa for high tunnel transplanting and did some more weeding. We also took a few breaks while harvesting the bounty of beans yesterday to check in on the eclipse.

A little detail on your produce this week:

Basilhates the cold and will turn black with exposure. Keep
long stemmed basil in a glass/vase of water on your counter top (out of direct
sunlight). Stems that are too short (trimmings/tops) should be placed in a
plastic bag, with a dry paper towel. Then put inside of a paper bag (for
insulation) and put in the warmest part of your refrigerator (usually the door)
or on the top shelf towards the front.

Squash Blossoms:Squash blossoms are very perishable.Arrange them on paper towel lined tray, cover
with another cloth and then lightly wrap with plastic, refrigerate and use very
soon.Blossoms will keep for 1 week at
50ºF.Open and inspect
squash blossoms for insects before using them.Pull off and discard the green calyxes surrounding the bottom of the
blossom.Clean blossoms by gently
swishing them in a bowl of cold water.Shake them dry. Trim or snip out
the anthers or style.A few suggested
uses for the squash blossoms:as a
garnish raw on crêpes, green salads, fruit salads, soups, and quesadillas;
stuff blossoms with rice or minced meat and fry in batter; stuff blossoms with
soft cheese, cooked and crumbled sausage, then bread and fry or bake; dip
blossoms in a flour and cornstarch batter and fry until brown and crunchy; chop
them up and add to quiche.

Sweet Peppers: Place whole, unwashed peppers in a plastic bag, seal, and refrigerate for a week or more. Rinse peppers just before use then cut around the stem with a small knife and lift out the core. Slice down the side to open it up and then cut out the inner membranes.

A few other details: All of your
GREENS
will keep best if stored in a plastic bag, with the top folded over and placed
in the produce drawer of your refrigerator.

* NOTE: You
will notice over the course of the season that some box contents listed above say "Perhaps one of the following..."These
are items that we can’t harvest in sufficient quantities for the whole CSA to receive at one time.We do
track who gets what and we will do our best to ensure that everyone eventually
receives each item. On some items this
may take several weeks, so please be patient.

Is a weekly
newsletter not enough for you and you want to read more about our daily
adventures or see pictures of the farm?Follow
us on Facebook at Blue Gate Farm
and/or share your recipes, experiences and questions with other BGF members at Blue Gate Farm
Community.

That’s about it
this week, if you have any questions or comments be sure to let us know.

What’s up on the farm?

Precipitation in the past week: 0.08"

Well, it has been a week for sure. Sean's surgery went well and his recovery is progressing nicely. He is now home from the hospital and we look forward to continuing forward progress. It is a challenge to run a farm under the best conditions, but add obnoxious weather and a health issue and it becomes a bit overwhelming. Huge thanks to family, farm crew and friends that kept everything moving forward.

We did manage to forge ahead on a number of things over the past week. Still no appreciable rain, so the irrigation system continues to be our lifeline. Spent crops (like cucumbers, shallots and early turnips) have been cleared, the beds renovated and fresh crops planted for fall. In the past week we've sown or transplanted: beets, cabbage, cauliflower, arugula, head lettuce, kale, chard, turnips and broccoli raab.

Speaking of beets, we are sending out beets in the delivery this week. It is mostly just a taste, but we harvested every single beet on the farm. Never have we had so much trouble with the crops as we have this season. We sowed well over 1000 row feet of beets since the start of the season and between weather and furry eaters (deer & rabbits) we've had crop failure after crop failure. We had thought that this last bed of beets had gone unnoticed by the eaters and that it was progressing well. Then we checked them yesterday. Nope, sometime in the past week they found it and not only ate the tops off much of the bed, but also pulled them right out of the ground. Definitely a deer trick, and now that they've found them, they will return to finish the job, so we just cleared the bed and are sending them out to you with the reassurance that we have planted more and hope to send them out before the season.

So as not to just wallow in the frustrations of the season or week, we are celebrating a couple of things this week, in addition to Sean's successful surgery. We are sending out melons again in this delivery. This is hands down the best melon season we've ever had and we hope you are enjoying it as much as we (and the crew) are! The season for melons will start winding down soon, but we have been very pleased with these crops. And finally, there's this guy, who celebrated his 2nd birthday on the 14th.

Happy Birthday, Percy!

A little detail on your produce this week:

Basil hates the cold and will turn black with exposure. Keep
long stemmed basil in a glass/vase of water on your counter top (out of direct
sunlight). Stems that are too short (trimmings/tops) should be placed in a
plastic bag, with a dry paper towel. Then put inside of a paper bag (for
insulation) and put in the warmest part of your refrigerator (usually the door)
or on the top shelf towards the front.

Beets- Cut off greens,
leaving an inch of stem. Refrigerate the unwashed greens in a closed plastic
bag and use with your chard mix as beets and chard are closely related. Store
the beet roots, unwashed, with the rootlets (or “tails”) attached, in a plastic
bag in the crisper bin of your refrigerator. They will keep for several weeks,
but their sweetness diminishes with time. Just before cooking, scrub beets well
and remove any scraggly leaves and rootlets. If your recipe calls for raw
beets, peel them with a knife or vegetable peeler, then grate or cut according
to your needs baby/young beets usually don't need to be peeled.

Fennel: Cut off the stalks where they emerge from the bulb. To
use the feathery foliage as an herb, place the dry stalks upright in a glass filled
with two inches of water, cover the glass loosely with a plastic bag, and store
in the refrigerator for up to five days. The unwashed bulb will keep in a
plastic bag in the refrigerator for at least a week. To use: Remove
any damaged spots or layers. Cut the bulb in half lengthwise and check the
inner core. If it’s tough, remove it with a paring knife. Fennel should be
washed carefully, because dirt can lodge between the layers of the bulb. Chop
or mince the leaves.

Leeks:Loosely wrap
unwashed leeks in a plastic bag and store them in the vegetable bin of your
refrigerator. They will keep for a couple of weeks. To use- Cut the leek about
1 inch above the white part, where the leaves begin changing from dark to light green. (Save the
unused greens; they’ll give great flavor to your next vegetable stock.) Fan the
leaves under running water to dislodge any dirt collected there, then pat
thoroughly dry. You can julienne a leek by cutting it lengthwise, or slice it
crosswise. If you want to clean a leek that you will be cooking whole, make a
slit down one side to within an inch or two of the root end. Then spread the
leaves under running lukewarm water to clean the leek. During cooking the leek
will stay whole. When serving, arrange the leek with the cut side down.

A few other details: All of your
GREENS
will keep best if stored in a plastic bag, with the top folded over and placed
in the produce drawer of your refrigerator.

* NOTE: You
will notice over the course of the season that some box contents listed above say "Perhaps one of the following..."These
are items that we can’t harvest in sufficient quantities for the whole CSA to receive at one time.We do
track who gets what and we will do our best to ensure that everyone eventually
receives each item. On some items this
may take several weeks, so please be patient.

Is a weekly
newsletter not enough for you and you want to read more about our daily
adventures or see pictures of the farm?Follow
us on Facebook at Blue Gate Farm
and/or share your recipes, experiences and questions with other BGF members at Blue Gate Farm
Community.

That’s about it
this week, if you have any questions or comments be sure to let us know.

1 cup Romano Beans, or other
fresh beans or peas, stemmed and snapped into bite-sized pieces

2 tbs Dried Tomatoes, chopped
or 2-4 Small fresh tomatoes, chopped

Feta Cheese. crumbled

1 tbs Balsamic vinegar

1 tbs fresh basil, cut into a
chiffonade

Penne pasta

Prepare pasta according to
directions.

While pasta is cooking,
separate beets from greens (discard stems), cut beets into quarters or eighths
and cut beet greens into a chiffonade.

Place dried tomatoes into a
small heat-proof dish. When pasta is about half done, take 2 tbs of pasta water
and pour over dried tomatoes to re-hydrate.

Place olive oil, garlic,
beets and beans into a sauté pan over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring
often. Remove dried tomatoes from liquid (reserving liquid) and add tomatoes to
sauté pan along with beet greens. Cook until greens are wilted and bright
green.Remove from heat.

What’s up on the farm?

Zinnias, melons and butternut squash in the El Norte plot

Precipitation in the past week: trace It's been a bit hard to believe it is August when spending time outdoors recently. The crew starts the day in sweatshirts and jackets...at state fair time! Crazy stuff this weather. Still no measurable rain at the farm. NOAA has moved our area to severe drought ratings and the pastures and lawns look more like late September than the first week of August. Things are progressing in the gardens, regardless of the weather challenges though. We continued our clearing and preparing spent beds for new fall crops. This past week we've sown head lettuce, salad mix, spinach, arugula and choi. Luckily we have a good irrigation system and by running it almost constantly, some of the seeds are already starting to germinate. We've also started planting fall transplants including: napa cabbage, broccoli and more head lettuce. Now if we can just keep the crazy rabbits and deer away from them, we should be in good shape. More sowing and transplanting to follow this week. The warm-weather crops are moseying along at a leisurely pace, the drought conditions and below-normal temperatures have them producing and ripening fruit, just at a slower pace than normal. You will see the first of our beautiful sweet peppers in today's boxes as well as a few more tomatoes and we are very excited to send out the first of the season's watermelons along with another round of cantaloupe. The crew is rather fond of this part of the season as we do a fair amount of "testing" melons to try and get all the clues right for harvesting them at their peak of ripeness. Everyone seems to be willing to bear the burden of this responsibility.

Indigo feels the burden of melon responsibility more than most

Some less than fun news that we need to share with you. As many of our veteran members know, Sean is a two time cancer survivor. Unfortunately, the 3rd cancer diagnosis was made earlier this year and after some unsuccessful treatment attempts he is now headed for a significant liver surgery this Wednesday. This will put him largely out of commission for a month or two and will certainly change our focus in the coming weeks. So what does this mean for you as our members? Likely, not much. Knoxville members will see a different face at the weekly pickup for a while. Des Moines members will probably not notice a difference at all, though it is possible we may send a sub for a delivery if need be. While the farmers will be spending more time away from the farm than is normal, our wonderful crew, family and friends will be keeping things moving forward at BGF. If you need to reach us in the next couple of weeks, please be patient if it takes longer than normal for us to respond.

A little detail on your produce this week:

Eggplant: Eggplant
prefers to be kept at about 50° F, which is warmer than most refrigerators and
cooler than most kitchen counters. Wrap unwashed eggplant in a towel (not in
plastic) to absorb any moisture and keep it in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator.
Used within a week, it should still be fresh and mild.The shape of an eggplant determines how it is
best prepared. Slice a straight, narrow eggplant into rounds for grilling or
broiling, and cut a rounded, bulbous eggplant into cubes for stews and
stir-fries.

Melons: If
your cantaloupe seems a bit short of ripe, keep it at room temperature
for a few days or until there is a sweet smell coming from the stem end.
Once the melon ripens, store it in the refrigerator. Handle watermelons
carefully. When harvested at their peak ripeness, they can crack or
split easily if bumped or roughly handled. Refrigerate watermelons right
away. (Watermelons do not ripen off the vine and do not emanate a ripe
smell.)Cut melon should be covered in plastic wrap, chunks or slices
should be kept in an airtight container, and both should be
refrigerated. Eat all melons within a week.

Okra:
These lovely, dark red, horn-shaped vegetables are a warm weather treat.
Extremely cold sensitive, store in their plastic bag in the warmest part of
your fridge, or place the plastic bag in a small paper sack and store in the
crisper drawer and use within the week. Traditional southerners will cut into
rounds, bread in cornmeal and fry, but our favorite version is our dear friend
Annie's method, "All I do is rinse
off the pods and lay them in a saucepan with a little water in the bottom. Ten
to fifteen minutes is all it takes...twenty if the pods are really big and
"woody" feeling. I put salt on them and eat as finger food. It
reminds me of young sweet corn."

Peppers:Place
whole, unwashed peppers in a plastic bag, seal, and refrigerate for a week or
more. Rinse peppers just before use. For sweet peppers, cut around the stem
with a small knife and lift out the core. Slice down the side to open it up and
then cut out the inner membranes. Store unused portions in a sealed bag or
container in the refrigerator.

Shallots:These are freshly
harvested shallots that haven't had time to cure yet.. You can use them in any
recipe calling for shallots or onions. Store loosely wrapped in the
refrigerator for best keeping quality. Shallots have a rich, more delicate
flavor than most in the onion family and are particularly tasty with
vegetables, eggs and salad dressings.

Tomatoes: Tomatoes keep best at room temperature, out of direct
sunlight. We prefer to only refrigerate tomatoes once they have been cut. Once
tomato season is on, we try to include fruits that are a range of ripeness, so
they will last longer for you. As we raise tomatoes of every color, the best
ripeness test is a gentle squeeze. A ripe tomato will "yield" to
gentle pressure.

A few other details: All of your
GREENS
will keep best if stored in a plastic bag, with the top folded over and placed
in the produce drawer of your refrigerator.

* NOTE: You
will notice over the course of the season that some box contents listed above say "Perhaps one of the following..."These
are items that we can’t harvest in sufficient quantities for the whole CSA to receive at one time.We do
track who gets what and we will do our best to ensure that everyone eventually
receives each item. On some items this
may take several weeks, so please be patient.

Is a weekly
newsletter not enough for you and you want to read more about our daily
adventures or see pictures of the farm?Follow
us on Facebook at Blue Gate Farm
and/or share your recipes, experiences and questions with other BGF members at Blue Gate Farm
Community.

That’s about it
this week, if you have any questions or comments be sure to let us know.